Welcome to the Lower School

Welcome to Green Acres Lower School, where we offer an enriching experience for children in Pre-K through Grade 4! Here, in this enticing environment, students’ minds are stretched in a multitude of ways and they make new intellectual discoveries every day.

Even at this young age, Green Acres students are developing fascinating theories about their world. In our strong climate of inquiry, we encourage risk-taking as a natural part of the rich academic experiences to which students will be exposed. Yet, we want kids to be kids! We know, and wholeheartedly concur with child development experts, that kids learn best when they are fully engaged in purposeful learning. We celebrate being able to wonder, to be curious, to question, and to be joyful in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding.

The Lower School program exposes students to exciting investigations that allow them to wonder and refine their thinking. A combined focus on learning collaboratively, while also building on the individual skills of students, helps them solidly grasp age-appropriate concepts.

A great deal of emphasis is put on the essential skills of writing, so critical to academic achievement across multiple disciplines, and life beyond school.

In Social Studies, students explore families, reptiles, oceans, Native Americans, Colonial America, celebrations around the world, rain forests, and deserts.

As mathematicians, students investigate mathematical ideas and engage in analytical thinking through meaningful, hands-on activities. They sort and classify blocks at clean-up time or record the number of monarch butterflies emerging from chrysalises. Or, their spatial sense may be challenged in order to find tetrahedrons at the National Gallery of Art.

For Science, the woodlands, stream, gardens, and fields of our campus present students with rich opportunities to observe and investigate the world around them, and explore scientific principles. The Lower School Science program balances a study of life, physical, and earth and space sciences.

Modern language study begins in Pre-K with Spanish. Students not only have fun gaining acquisition of a second language but become immersed in learning about Spanish culture, as it pertains to a variety of countries where Spanish is spoken.

At Green Acres, we value and support each child for the range of gifts and talents he or she brings to our school; every aspect of a child’s development is important to us. Your child will experience an environment that encourages: independent and diverse thinking, imaginative and innovative ideas, support for ones’ passions, and respect in the broadest sense of the word.